


the way we were when we first met

by drashian



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Cardboard Boxes, Kissing, M/M, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-10
Updated: 2013-04-10
Packaged: 2017-12-08 03:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drashian/pseuds/drashian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Silly Snake, kissing boys in boxes during terrorist situations isn't a good idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the way we were when we first met

**Author's Note:**

  * For [decomposed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/decomposed/gifts).



> so a while back, my partner made up a list of silly MGS shipping prompts for me, of which I only filled one, that for Snake to kiss Otacon in a box and to have the latter freak out and get them caught. I never posted it publicly and it sat for months until I decided to do a bit of revision work on it and post it. so here you go: a stupid and not very canon-compliant fic that I still think is pretty damn cute.
> 
> (title is from [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA2dWWNRmAY).)

Snake whipped his hand up and the engineer froze. They stood for half a second, suspended into a million sliced-up moments, Snake completely still and listening, Otacon just barely noticing the quietest sound of movement from down the hall, Snake turning towards him with this strange sense of routine panic. Otacon had enough time to realize that this glimmer of fear in his eyes was the adrenaline rush that must accompany every mission before he was being pulled down, towards Snake, and under… something? It was dark suddenly, the air heavy, claustrophobic. It smelled strongly of cardboard and blood and sweat. It took him another few moments to realize that they were both hiding inside of some kind of shipping box.

It was a remarkably big box, but definitely not made for a person. It was even worse with two. They were pressed against each other and Hal let himself put some of his weight on the tense muscles of this near stranger. He found Snake’s eyes in the dim light; Snake nodded slightly towards the opening for the hand grip. Through this slit, Otacon could see the guard’s shadow move. If they remained perfectly still, there was no reason for him to look at the box.

Otacon slowly lowered his knees to the floor, distributing his weight off of the balls of his feet. This also moved him forward so his whole chest was against Snake’s. The other man didn’t seem to mind, at least, probably a result of professionalism and survival techniques. Hal would rather get in a legendary soldier’s personal bubble than be shot to death any day. Of course, he would much rather take option C where he hadn’t broken his stealth camo, but an unfortunate tumble down a deceptively slippery flight of stairs outside had taken care of that.

The guard was taking his sweet time. They could hear the crackle of his radio as he called in, reporting his status in the most monotone, slow voice possible. Of course, he was also not moving out of the storage room all three men were currently in.

Hal’s arms and legs began to shake from holding so rigidly in the same position and, in trying to keep his balance, he lifted them off of the floor and onto Snake’s shoulders to push himself upright a bit more. Perhaps he could twist a bit and sit more comfortably. Their eyes met for a moment and Otacon could see his exasperation with the state of his physical fitness—which was definitely not his fault—but also a tiny hint of endearment. But maybe he was just imagining that because for what felt like the twenty minutes it took him to regain his balance as he tried to shift without making a sound all he could think about was what would happen if he fell forwards and just started kissing this stupidly handsome and surprisingly nice soldier he had met a few hours ago. Totally normal. (Well, to be fair, he had known he wasn't exactly straight for many years and Snake was definitely a good looking guy. Plus, almost dying like five times in a very short period of time can make you pretty desperate.)

He managed to push himself back enough to actually sit down and, judging from the uninterrupted conversation that the guard was having (were they making small talk?), he had been unheard. Snake knelt forward to give Otacon more room for his legs which were to either side of him.

Okay, this was getting a little bit ridiculous. The guard had to leave sometime, right?

A few seconds later, just as Otacon was beginning to consider how few inches of movement it would take for Snake to be actually in his lap, the radio clicked off. The duo in the box met eyes and felt each other internally sigh with relief, though both held their breath. The guard took a few steps, apparently surveying the room yet again, and began to exit.

Hal smiled broadly as he prepared himself to leave the box. It was really, really hot under there. And he was wearing a parka. Snake, too, smiled and leaned forward a bit. And then he was leaning forward more than just a bit and, whoa, he was getting right up in Otacon’s face which was only a movement of six inches or so but it was a lot and then he was kissing him. Just a bit, nothing too dramatic, no tongue down the throat, but Hal jumped back almost a foot. He scrambled to catch his balance as he fell to the ground, trying to right himself, but his head hit the box and flipped it over and off of them. He was about to panic, but relaxed at seeing the guard was no longer in the room.

A split second later, he came back to investigate the noise and Otacon was, for the first time, caught directly in the middle of a firefight.

Admittedly it didn’t actually last that long because the guard only got one shot off before being tranq’ed, and since he had just radioed in that all was normal, there wasn’t anyone around to hear. But it was still terrifying. Hal was proud to say that, despite having curled into a ball with his hands over his ears, he had at least not peed himself this time.

The situation dispatched and the knocked out guard hidden behind crates, Snake reached down and gave Otacon a hand up, laughing a bit. “Sorry about that. I wasn't planning on you causing a security breach.”

Hal felt himself turn bright red. “I-I, uh, yeah. It’s alright.”

Snake raised an eyebrow. (Of course he could do that thing where he raised just one eyebrow, like some stupid movie star. Of fucking course.) “Do you mean ‘I’m not mad at you’ alright or ‘I enjoyed the thing you did’ alright?”

Hal stared at his shoes. “The latter,” he managed.

Snake laughed again and it was kind of eerie, hearing him sound so god damn normal like that. But Otacon figured that was just how he was with romantic interests. Maybe he was actually a funny kind of guy outside of a terrorist situation. “I figured as much. Just a test, I guess, to gauge interest on my part. Maybe not the best of timing.”

Hal nodded. “Not really.” He scrunched up his face. “But if, for instance, you were to attempt again at a more convenient time, perhaps the result would be better?”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” the solder said, smiling and clapping Hal on the shoulder as he led them out of the storage room and down the hallway (but not before picking up his cardboard box).


End file.
